Good Taste points you to the good stuff to eat in the Bay Area. Today, a look at one of San Francisco’s line-iest phenomena: Butter & Crumble (271 Francisco Street, San Francisco).
I tried—and failed—to pre-order either a small ($32) or large ($60) pastry box from Butter & Crumble for seven weeks straight. On the eighth week, I was able to secure a large box containing a mortadella and pistachio pesto croissant, blueberry muffin pain Suisse, scallion pancake croissant, strawberry rhubarb cruffin, potato artichoke twist, carrot cake twice baked croissant, pistachio cardamom sugar croissant, and cornflake cookie.
The purchasing system allows you to see how many other people are trying to get them at the same time, which is how I know that I competed with between 146 and 527 people for maybe 20 boxes over those couple of months.
Yes, that’s kinda ridiculous, but I couldn’t help feeling that I “won the game” on the eighth week, so it was worth “playing.” Still, as I headed over at my designated 10am pickup time last Friday, I couldn’t help but wonder if the pastries would be hit and miss, or if I would be disappointed in spending.
The line stretched around the building, but I was able to walk right in and grab my preorder. However, pre-order customers must get in line if they want to get any additional items, and I didn’t feel like jumping in it on that day because it could have easily been an hour long.
I took the box home, took a million pictures and videos, and split some of them to share with friends later that day. I ate half of the scallion pancake croissant, which is topped with pork floss, for lunch, and contemplated not sharing that with anyone else (but did in the end).
Honestly, each one was special and inspired hoarding. Croissant layers are super precise and have small additional touches that contribute big flavors, like the compressed carrot squares atop the twice-baked carrot cake croissant; I’d happily buy bags of just those squares.
Butter & Crumble opened in October 2023, but the sight of lines on social media kept me from going all this time. Apparently they are at peak length at the moment and chef-owner Sophie Smith has joked about people waiting in the middle of the night during production. Open Thursday through Sunday, the line seems to form at least two hours before the 9am opening, and items sell out between 11:30am and 2pm.
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Smith offers advice in her website FAQ: “I would recommend coming by around 8-8:30 on a weekend, or a little later on Thursday or Friday, if you want to make sure you can get what you want! If you live close by, it’s always worth walking by around 10:30 or 11am on a weekday when sometimes the line dies out and we might have a good selection left.”
Another question in the FAQ is why they can’t just make more. The answer is that the pastries take three days to make, which pushes Smith and staff to the limit, and there are a lot of details that need to be closely minded. They’re preservative free and “not meant to be mass produced.”
I don’t like lines, but I swear I am going to get in one there soon in order to try some different individual items and drinks—hello, banana cold brew, Valrhona mocha, iced carrot cake latte, and iced pistachio matcha! Well played, Butter & Crumble.
Tamara publishes the California Eating website, newsletter, and zine.
